Ruling almost overshadows amazing shot by Cink

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May. 3, 2008
By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM Chief of Correspondents

Must-see video: Cink's remarkable shot on No. 17

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Stewart Cink didn't feel comfortable doing his best Camilo Villegas imitation. Not with that lake looming large in case this 6-foot-4 Spiderman took a misstep at the edge of the 17th green.

Stewart Cink

Wachovia: Round 3

Cink's ball had nestled on some mortar between two of the many rocks that form the retaining wall on what is perhaps the signature hole at Quail Hollow Club. As he leaned down low to survey the situation at the picturesque par 3, Cink steadied himself with his hand.

As he did, he saw that his hand was touching the ground inside the hazard line. And Cink immediately knew he had a problem.

"I was like, 'Oh, no, what did I just do?'" Cink recalled after shooting 65 in the third round of the Wachovia Championship that left him tied for fourth, five strokes off the lead.

"I wasn't sure whether it was going to be a penalty or not because of the fact that I was balancing, and I needed to balance in order to get a good look at the ball because if I aimed it incorrectly, where it was sitting in the rocks, it could have just as well hit the rock in front of me and gone back in the water, or it could have hit me either one of those is a penalty."

So Cink called PGA TOUR rules official Tony Wallin over to discuss the situation. At first, both feared Cink might have breached Rule 13-4 that governs actions that are permitted or prohibited within a hazard. A two-stroke penalty was hanging in the balance.

There is one exception to that rule, though. A player can touch the ground in a hazard to prevent falling. As Wallin and Cink continued their discussion after the round -- Cink had elected to continue playing rather than hold up the competition -- they determined he should not be penalized.

"He clearly didn't test the hazard," Wallin said. "It was totally just for balance. ... I even called the USGA just to make sure that my decision was correct and had it confirmed with Jeff Hall that what Stewart did in that circumstance would not be a penalty.

"I've had that a few times in my career and fought very hard to get that to a no penalty situation when it's done for balance, and that was the end result."

Actually, the end result was a birdie, since Cink was able to successfully maneuver his ball to the hole from that awkward lie in the rocks. The ball had to traverse a foot of rock, another 12 inches of hazard grass, three yards of rough and about 15 feet of the green.

Cink used his putter to essentially hit down on the ball, driving it into the mortar and popping it up in the air like a pitch shot. "It broke a little right, and it went in," he said with a smile.

Earlier this year, though, Cink tangled with a far more obscure situation -- and the outcome wasn't as favorable. At least not for him, although the incident did cause the USGA to issue an interpretation of Rule 13-4a with respect to testing the condition of a similar hazard that would have allowed what Cink did during the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

Cink's tee shot had settled in the lip of a bunker during the second round at TPC Louisiana. He stood with his right foot in the sand to hit the shot, and the ball landed in a greenside bunker. Cink's caddy raked the first bunker, Cink blasted out of the second and he was on his way to a 71.

Or so he thought. The next morning, Cink was talking to one of his best friends on TOUR, Zach Johnson.

Cink's 65 on Saturday tied for lowest round of the week. (Getty Images)

"He says, 'Listen to this crazy rule,'" Cink recalled. "Did you know that if you hit your ball near a bunker and you stand in it, hit your shot, and it goes into a greenside bunker that you're not allowed to rake the bunker? I said, "No, I didn't know that.' I bet that happens all the time out here."

Cink walked to the first tee that day with PGA TOUR rules official Arvin Ginn, who explained the rule to Cink. He told Cink that he and his fellow rules gurus understood it was a strange rule, and that they had been trying to get it changed. Anyway, go play well, Ginn told Cink.

In the second fairway, a light dawned for Cink. He and his playing partner, Paul Goydos, had been talking about the rule.

"I said, I bet I've done that myself out here,' Cink remembered. "I bet I've done it half a dozen times in my career and not known that, and then it just popped in my head, I did that yesterday. "

Cink immediately summoned a rules official. They discussed the situation, and Cink continued to play the next five holes -- as a "dead man walking," he said with a grin. On No. 7, someone in a cart picked him up and Cink found out he'd been disqualified.

Ten days later, the USGA issued the interpretation and specifically mentioned the incident with Cink in their release.

"I just seem to be sort of a lightning rod with this rules situation," Cink said good-naturedly. "The first one happened because I was oblivious to it and the one today because I was somewhat absentminded about going down to balance myself, and it turns into a question."

What should not be overshadowed, though, is the way Cink has been playing this week. For that matter, the way he has played throughout 2008.

Cink has played in nine PGA TOUR events this year and placed in the top-10 five times -- including runner-up finishes at the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship and PODS Championship. That consistency has Cink ranked third in the FedExCup standings and fourth on the money list with more than $2 million.

At the same time, Cink is looking for his first victory since the 2004 World Golf Championships-NEC Invitational, a period of 92 starts. He says he didn't play well enough to hold off the hard-charging Sean O'Hair in Tampa and ran into a buzz saw named Tiger Woods in the 36-hole finale in Arizona.

"You could say, I guess, I was tied for the lead going into the last round there, but he was playing pretty well that day, and it would have been my best effort probably ever to stay even with him the way he played," Cink said.

"I'm not surprised (I haven't won yet). I mean, I think I've gotten what I deserved this year. I really haven't deserved to win a tournament yet. I haven't had bad breaks that cost me; I just had a stretch of bad holes that cost me.

"Who knows, maybe this week I'll have a stretch of good holes that will turn out my way."